More Than Friends

More Than Friends

Ch. 1 Start of the Last

Seventh Year.

Hermione couldn't believe it. They had made it to their last and final year at Hogwarts. Since today was the day she would be riding the Hogwarts Express for the last time, she couldn't sleep in anymore and decided to go downstairs and have some breakfast instead. Besides, today was a big day after all...she'd finally be seeing Ron and Harry again since last month at the Burrow. It had only been a month, but she missed them terribly. She ran downstairs, poured herself some cereal, and took at seat at the kitchen table.

"Mornin' Sweetie. Up already? Couldn't wait to get back, I reckon?"

Hermione put her bowl down and turned around to the sight of her mother in her fluffy lavender robe.

"Morning!"

"Make sure to be ready by--

"Nine, I know. I'll just go take a quick shower and we'll be off."

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[Platform 9 ¾]

"Alright dear, now be sure to write us at least once a month."

"And don't forget to brush your teeth--

"Every morning and night, and if possible after every meal in between, I know Dad. Don't worry. I am 17 after all," laughed Hermione.

"Ooh, you're right Dear. Now you go on and have a fun year, Miss Headgirl."

Hermione laughed again. Her parents always got choked up when school began again as if she had never left them before. "I will Mum. I love you both. Bye!" And with that, she walked off to find Harry and Ron.

"Oy! Hermione!" Sounds like Ron.

She turned around to be greeted by her boys running up to her. I was right.

"Ron! Harry! Oh, it's so great to see you both." Hermione grabbed one after the other and enveloped each in a lung-crushing hug.

"Jeez Hermione, we saw each other only last month! It's not like we didn't see each other all summer."

"I know, Ron, but I missed you guys too much!"

"Well she's got a point, ya know mate. I'd miss me too if I had to be separated from myself that long." Harry nudged Ron and gave Hermione a dazzling smile and a wink.

Hermione suddenly felt her breath hitch in her throat. Not knowing why it happened, she just shrugged it off.

"Oh come on, let's just get on the train before we end up having to take a flying car again." The three of them laughed and headed for the train.

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"Can you believe it? Our last year!" Ron stretched out in his seat to get into a comfier position. "After this year, no more classes, homework, Snape...we'll be fully- fledged wizards. Hermione cleared her throat. "Oh, I mean, wizards and witches."

"Thankyou."

"You forgot no more Malfoy. I can't wait for school to end and be rid of that slimey git!" Harry's hands balled up into fists.

"Well, well, well. What have we got here? It's Potty, Weasel, and the Mudblood."

"Speak of the Devil," Hermione muttered. She knew that leering voice anywhere. "What do you want Malfoy?"

"Trust me, I want no part of the Golden Trio. I was just ordered to gather up the rest of the prefects and the Headboy and Girl for the meeting in the Heads compartment."

"Prefect? You?!" Ron sounded more disgusted than when he was puking slugs.

"If you must know, yes. I was made Slytherin prefect." Malfoy smirked. Well, seeing as there are no prefects here, I have other things to attend to."

"For once, you are right. There are no prefects here. But, there is a Headboy present." Harry had a look of triumph on his face. Malfoy, on the other hand, looked even paler, if that was possible.

"You're Headboy?!"

"Yup."

"Great going, Harry!" Ron gave him a slap on the back. It was Hermione's turn.

"Actually, this compartment is filled with both heads." She stood with her arms crossed and a smug look on her face as well.

"Granger the Headgirl?!" Now Malfoy's hair was turning pale.

"Alright Hermione! This year'll be even better than I expected!"

"Thanks Ron. Now, if you'll excuse us Malfoy, Harry and I must attend to some Heads' duties." Once they were out of the compartment, Harry asked Hermione, "I didn't know you were Head. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to surprise you guys. Why didn't you tell me?" She looked up into his eyes with a knowing smile on her face. Harry gave her a lopsided grin.

"I wanted to surprise you guys."

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Now that his two friends had left, things were quite boring for Ron. So he decided to go walk around, maybe find the rest of the gang.

...:::a couple minutes later:::...

Who's that? She's so pretty...I don't think I've seen her before. Is she new? I know, I'll go talk to her.

Ron approached the blonde he was eyeing from behind and as he was about to tap her shoulder, she turned around.

"Luna?! Is that you? Wow, you've...changed!"

"Hello to you too, Ronald." She still has that same dreamy expression though. "Mind I ask if that's a bad thing?" Was she batting her eyelashes?

"No! No, definitely not!" He took a moment to look her from head to foot. Definitely not!

"If you're not doing anything, want to go grab a compartment? We can catch up on stuff, like your summer and everything. It's been a while since we've talked."

"Yea, it has." Ron's mind flashed back to sixth year...

::Sighs:: Maybe lavender isn't the right girl for me. She's just too clingy and doesn't even like a lot of the stuff I like. Should I break it off with her? I just don't want to hurt her feelings. Maybe I could say "It's not that I don't like you, I just don't like you like you." Ugh! That wouldn't work, I sound like a blubbering idiot. What to do??

"Ron?" Ron turned around and saw Luna standing behind him with a puzzled look on her face. "What are you doing out her all alone, and so late, I might add?"

"Oh, just thinking. You? What brings you out here?" She walked over to stand next to him.

"It was so silent back inside...an eerie silence. So I decided to come out here for a walk and here I find you looking out over the lake." She looked up at him and gave him a slight smile. Ron gave her a smile in return, but it was far from heartfelt.

"It's Lavender, isn't it?"

"Huh?"

"I've seen the way she is around you: she's all over you. And it might be a surprise to you, but I do have eyes. You don't like it, do you?"

He sighed. "Nope. She and I just don't seem to be on the same page anymore. It's like we're just together now for the sake of being together. When I think of it, I don't even know her that well. I've been trying to send her signals that I'm not interested anymore, but she just doesn't get it. I don't know what to do...I don't want to hurt her."

"The longer you wait to break things off, the more hurt she'll be. You should talk to her." Ron looked down at her.

"I guess you're right. I'll end things with her tomorrow...do you think she'll be awfully mad?"

"Nah, she's a strong girl. Sure, she seems to be really into whomever she's with, but honestly- now don't get offended- but she's more into the fact of having a boyfriend than the boyfriend. Am I making sense?"

"Yea, I've kinda noticed that by now. I guess she'll be all right then."

"Yea, don't worry Ron. I'm sure things will turn out fine." She gave him a reassuring smile, and he gave her one back too, except this time it was genuine.

"Thanks Luna. Don't take this the wrong way, but I never knew you were so easy to talk to. I- I always thought you were sort of off your rocker there."

She laughed. "Yea, I know people think I'm crazy sometimes, but I can have a normal conversation too. I just don't care what people think. If they think I'm nuts for being who I am, then I'm nuts."

"I admire that in a person. I hate fake people. Come to think of it, Lavender was kinda fake too...I guess that's why things didn't work out so well."

"Don't worry Ron. I bet you'll find that special girl someday. Just think of it...a couple more months till this year is over, then it's seventh year and you're out of here."

"Yea. Imagine that. Time flies by so fast. Want to sit down?" He motioned over to under the tree behind them. Luna nodded. Once the two seated themselves into a comfortable position, they started talking about this and that and spent the whole night laughing and getting to know each other. It was the happiest Ron had felt for a while now.

Ever since that night, Ron and Luna would spend some time every night just to go walk around the lake and talk. He felt so comfortable with her and she with him. Thus, they soon became good friends.

Once they found an empty compartment, they started talking about how their summers were, how excited they were for this year, and even about how things are now between Ron and Lavender, and Luna was happy to know that they were good friends again. For a few weeks after Ron had broken it off, she gave him the cold shoulder and he was afraid he'd lose her as a friend. Ron soon found his mind wandering back to earlier...

She's really changed. I mean, REALLY changed. Seems like puberty was kind to her. She filled out in all the right places, her hair became sleeker and shinier, her face has matured too. Luna was talking animatedly about something- Ron didn't know what- he was too busy staring at her lips. How come I never noticed how red and full her lips are until now? Or even how blue her eyes are? She's gorgeous...

When Ron took over the conversation, Luna too found herself thinking about Ron in that way. He's gotten taller over the summer. And apparently Quidditch has helped him in more ways than one. His freckles are so cute...and his lips, they look so-

"Luna? Luna?!" Luna snapped out of her trance and found Ron looking at her oddly.

"Are you okay? You seem sort of out of it." Ron was concerned.

"Huh? Oh, yea, I'm fine. I guess I'm just getting a bit sleepy." She yawned and stretched.

"Yea, it has been a long train ride."

"It's just do hard to get comfortable in these seats." She was squirming back and fourth trying to get into a good position and Ron couldn't help but laugh at how cute she looked. He decided to be a bit daring.

"Y-You could lean against me. You know, I'll be your pillow." I'll be your pillow? How lame did that sound?! "Or, if you don't want to-

"No, sounds good." Luna lay down next to Ron and placed her head in his lap. "Yes, this is much comfier. Thanks Ron." She smiled brightly up at him. Oh man, she's so pretty... "No problem." Ron smiled back at her and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. She then drifted off to sleep and when Ron was sure she was asleep, he started stroking her soft cheek. What is happening to me? Could it be that I'm falling for you, Luna? I'm so confused right now...

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[The Great Hall]

"Zachery Zellery!"

".....Ravenclaw!"

The Hall erupted with applause. Soon Dumbledore stood up and silenced everyone.

"Welcome everyone, welcome! Now, before we begin anything else, I would like to introduce this year's Headboy- Mr. Harry Potter! And our Headgirl- Miss Hermione Granger!" Applause once again filled the room, but this time accompanied by loud cheers and whistles from the Gryffindor table. The Slytherin table, of course, was silent.

"Yes, well done. Now, as it has been a long day for all of you and seeing that classes begin tomorrow, everyone is dismissed to head to their dormitories."

As Harry and Hermione exited the Great Hall, they lost track of Ron. Hermione spotted him first though. He was walking with Luna and they were laughing and smiling. "Harry, I see Ron."

"Hey guys!" Ron was flushed from laughter.

"You guys are in a good mood."

"Yea, well, we were just laughing about Malfoy. Back there some Slytherin first years were so excited to see their dormitories that they all ran into Draco and he fell face first into the treacle pudding!" Ron broke out into more laughter.

"Aww, and we missed it?! I'd pay anything to see Malfoy being bullied by first years." Harry started sniggering himself, and Hermione soon followed suit.

"Well guys, we'll see you later. We're gonna head over to Gryffindor Tower."

"Alright Ron, we'll see you later. You too, Luna."

"Night Hermione. Night Harry."

"Night," Harry and Hermione said in unison.

"She's different than what I used to think of her." Hermione linked arms with Harry as they have done countless times before and started walking in the direction of the Heads' Tower Dumbledore had showed them earlier. "It's good that we made friends with her so that Ron won't be lonely when we have duties."

"Yea. Let's just hope Luna will be able to stand up with him." Harry laughed.

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"Ferret-boy." The door opened. "Haha, good choice for a password, Hermione. I laugh every time I think about Malfoy as a ferret."

"Haha, that was rather funny."

Hermione stepped in after Harry and took a look around. She gasped at its beauty. The walls were a pale cream, with a marble fireplace. There was one big tan couch and a love seat surrounding the glass table. There were bookshelves upon bookshelves on the walls already filled with the latest works Hermione had not read before. Everything was quite simple, but very elegant.

"Wow! I get to live here! It's-

"Amazing." Harry's voice was barely above a whisper. Hermione turned to him and caught him looking at her in a most peculiar way. Before she could think much about it though, he cleared his throat and the normal Harry was back again. "Well, better get to sleep. Early start tomorrow. Good Night 'Mione." He gave her a tight hug.

"'Night Harry." Mmm, he smells so good!

Then they went off to their separate bedrooms, not knowing the other was having similar thoughts at the very moment.